“I can walk, serpent!” she screeched as she pulled away from his attempt.
“No doubt you can, and will,” he said, once again speaking in his usual patient voice. “That is, after receiving Krytoes’s gift, I’m sure there are a great many things you can do well. Come, follow me.”
He led on as she followed him to his private chamber. Never had she stepped inside this room before, but she could feel its powerful magic quite easily. The way the walls continued to bleed seemed to bring the chamber to life.
“You now have both the power and the proper facilities to do as I command,” said Dragot, starting to sound impatient once again. “I will need two separate gateways, each leading to a separate location, by tomorrow. They must be able to transport a large number of people at once.” Addel began to protest once again, but he cut her off instead. “You now have the power to accomplish this.” He began pacing back and forth as he spoke. “It seems the man-child has made contact with the crytons! No doubt they will perform their ‘ritual’ to see if his claims are true. THIS CANNOT HAPPEN!” he boomed as he turned to leave.
Addel stared at his back, half in shock. Eric was in contact with the crytons? She was fully aware of their existence, but didn’t think he would ever get this far. To have actually found them! No wonder Dragot was so nervous. He turned back toward her once more. “We will attack Taron and the dead forest at the same time!” With that, he stormed away. If she was half in shock before, it was complete now. He’s insane!
*
Eric sneered at Jade as she began to untie him. “Well, at least you’re going to untie me, I guess that’s something at least.” He continued his cold stare as she rolled her eyes at him while tugging at the knot around his feet. “So I guess these crytons are your buddies now, huh!” he said without so much as blinking.
“They knocked me out too, you idiot!” she shot back at him as she disappeared behind the wooden post to free his hands. “What were their scouts supposed to do? As far as we know, they haven’t seen humans in a very long time. Besides, in case you didn’t notice, they honored my request to speak to you alone. That should count for something. They could have killed us if they chose to!” she grumbled as she loosened the final knot, pulling a bit harder than might have been necessary. “Maybe one of us would have sensed their presence if you hadn’t been—” she quickly averted her eyes as she stopped suddenly in mid sentence.
A jolt of pain stabbed through Eric’s heart as he remembered once again the line he had crossed. “Jade,” he said softly, gingerly getting to his feet. After stalling for a while, she finally looked him in the eye. “I’m so sorry for what I said. I didn’t mean any of it.” He ran his fingers through his thick curly hair as he turned to face the wall, having a hard time seeing the pain in her eyes. The pain he had caused. “It was just that...I felt so helpless.” She lifted one eyebrow as he continued. “I mean, you’re my guide. You’re supposed to tell me where to go, what to do, how to do it. When you stopped speaking to me, I was lost. Lost without my guide...my guardian...my friend! I had no idea what to do.”
This time he walked right over to her as she jumped a bit from the aggressive movement. “I knew I let you down,” he said in a low whisper. “I don’t ever want to feel like that again. Like...like I’ve hurt you, betrayed you.” His voice started to gain strength again. “But we’re here now. Thanks to you and Morcel’s ultimate sacrifice, we made it!” He moved even closer as he placed his hand on her shoulder. “I need you now more than ever.”
They stared into each other’s eyes for some time before Jade cleared her throat and looked away. “Follow me,” she said, wearing a lopsided smile. “We’re not done yet, we have work to do.” The two walked out of the black brick hut and onto a light dirt walkway sprinkled with gravel here and there. Most of the compact buildings looked very much the same: almost perfect squares with bamboo doors and roofs.